I've written about this before, but another great article is out reminding America that Martin Luther King, Jr. was a member of the only political party in American history that has steadfastly stood in favor of equal rights for black Americans -- the GOP.

t should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: slavery, secession, segregation and now socialism.

It was the Democrats who fought to keep blacks in slavery and passed the discriminatory Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. The Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan to lynch and terrorize blacks. The Democrats fought to prevent the passage of every civil rights law beginning with the civil rights laws of the 1860s, and continuing with the civil rights laws of the 1950s and 1960s.

During the civil rights era of the 1960s, Dr. King was fighting the Democrats who stood in the school house doors, turned skin-burning fire hoses on blacks and let loose vicious dogs. It was Republican President Dwight Eisenhower who pushed to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and sent troops to Arkansas to desegregate schools. President Eisenhower also appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren to the U.S. Supreme Court, which resulted in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation. Much is made of Democrat President Harry Truman's issuing an Executive Order in 1948 to desegregate the military. Not mentioned is the fact that it was Eisenhower who actually took action to effectively end segregation in the military.

Democrat President John F. Kennedy is lauded as a proponent of civil rights. However, Kennedy voted against the 1957 Civil Rights Act while he was a senator, as did Democrat Sen. Al Gore Sr. And after he became President, Kennedy was opposed to the 1963 March on Washington by Dr. King that was organized by A. Phillip Randolph, who was a black Republican. President Kennedy, through his brother Atty. Gen. Robert Kennedy, had Dr. King wiretapped and investigated by the FBI on suspicion of being a Communist in order to undermine Dr. King.

In March of 1968, while referring to Dr. King's leaving Memphis, Tenn., after riots broke out where a teenager was killed, Democrat Sen. Robert Byrd (W.Va.), a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, called Dr. King a "trouble-maker" who starts trouble, but runs like a coward after trouble is ignited. A few weeks later, Dr. King returned to Memphis and was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Yep -- those who acted agaisnt King and the Civil Rights Movement were Democrats -- and that same Robert Byrd who insulted King during the last few weeks of his life was just placed in the fourth spot in the Presidential Line of Succession by the Democrat Party. It is hard to see why any African-American who is dedicated to King's Dream would wish to be associated with that party.

And this is especially true given the evidence laid out by Frances Rice, on how the Democrats have always opposed the interests of black Americans -- and continue to do so up to this day. That includes killing GOP-sponsored minimum wage bills in 2004 and 2006 -- all while claiming that African-Americans are disproportionately hurt by the failure to raise the minimum wage and it was the fault of the GOP that there had been no increase! (Note -- I believe that the truth is that the increased minimum wage will disproportionately hurt blacks by slowing the economy.) And while the Party of Slavery attempts to paint itself as the Party of Civil Rights, it seeks to divide Americans and award benefits and burdens based upon race and ethnicity -- the antithesis of Dr. King's Dream.

No, Dr. King was a Republican for a reason -- and the GOP still remains the home of his Dream.

Posted by: Greg at 05:28 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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